Within the advance of generative metrical theory that is concerned with the linguistic study of versification, poetry investigation has been undeniably played a significant role in enhancing such progress. The research of linguistic scholars has been mainly focused on the exploration of English poetry with minor concentration on the examination of poetry in other languages, and that clearly implies the need of such research. Thus, the present study aims to examine the meter in Soqotri poetry under the framework of Optimality Theory (OT). It reveals that Soqotri poetry is regulated by poetic meter that constrains the size of the line with a fixed number of syllables with no systematic rhythm or alliteration. The OT analysis offered in this study derives the restrictions on the size of the line with minimality and maximality constraints. It shows the capability of OT in generating the well-formedness of non-rhythmic meter that constrains the phonological constituency in Soqotri poetry.

The exploration of poetry and songs has been essential to the progress of generative metrical theory that is concerned with the linguistic study of versification. The main issue is that the majority of work is highly concentrated on English poetry. Research on the poetic meter of other languages is thus crucial for a sufficient understanding of meter and metrical rules even though other perspectives and theoretical approaches are utilised. Bearing such a goal in mind, the current study aims to examine the meter in Ponapean songs in the light of Optimality Theory. It found that Ponapean songs are regulated by poetic meter that constrains both the size of the line with a fixed number of morae as well as the prominence that requires stressed morae. The proposed OT analysis derives the restriction on the size of the line with minimality and maximality constraints along with obligatoriness and alignment constraints that account for the prominence. Further rhythmic constraints are needed to regulate the alteration between stressed and unstressed morae. OT is shown in this study to be a framework which is capable of predicting the well-formed nature of rhythmic meter that constrains both the phonological constituency and prominence with regard to Ponapean songs. The proposed analysis might be used for other rhythmic meter that constrains the size and prominence at the same metric level, such as Luganda.

Interest in the phenomenon of sound symbolism, in which certain phonemes might be inherently associated with certain things, dates back to 400 B.C. While it has been assumed in most modern theories of linguistics that the relation between sound and meanings is arbitrary, an increasing number of studies have shown that there can be systematic sound-meaning associations. Among such systematic patterns is phonetic symbolism due to the iconicity between sound and meaning. Building upon earlier findings concerning the correlation between male and female names and certain sound classes found in English language, this study examines phonetic patterns, voiceless obstruents and sonorant consonants of the top 100 first names in four languages. The purpose of this study is to show that these tendencies may generally hold among existing first names in other languages as well. The results show that voiceless obstruents tend to be used more frequently in male names than in female names, and sonorant consonants tend to be used more frequently in female names than in male names. Indeed, this study offers further indications concerning this phenomenon, in which phonetic symbolism is not restricted to nonwords and can be found in real first names across languages. It sheds light on the phonetic factors, namely acoustics and other phonological characteristics that might trigger this systematic association.

Orthography is an undeniably unique human achievement; this work aims to provide a comprehensive overview of this achievement, by clarifying the concept of orthography and acknowledging its significance. Besides that, it demonstrates the broader types of orthographies that will face any foreign language learner—language orthography and linguistic orthography—and highlights the distinction between the two. In addition to discussing relevant work on orthography, it concludes with an evaluation of the two types, highlighting the differences in many aspects that are related to function, development and usage. Such work will enhance our understanding of orthography and surely contribute, not only to linguistic, but also to language research in general.

Onomatopoeia—the imitation of natural sounds—is a common phenomenon in human language, though imitations of the same sounds might appear different cross-linguistically. It is true that onomatopoeia is not like ordinary language, but how does it differ from natural vocalisation? While the distinction between onomatopoeia and ordinary language has received ample treatment, its difference from natural sounds have so far received less attention from linguistics. This study aims to investigate the phonetic differences between onomatopoeic cat sounds in ten languages and natural cat vocalisations. The findings show some segmental and phonotactical distinctions due to the direct representation of these words regarding their meanings, which clearly indicates that this phenomenon in world languages is not arbitrary and offers strong evidence of iconicity. While arbitrariness is the norm in human language and has an essential impact on language development, there are clearly some nonarbitrary aspects of human language, and onomatopoeia is notable among them.